The Wheel issued it's last call for applications to the Training Links Grant Programme in the summer of 2011. This latest call invited applications for funding from Training Networks to develop, deliver, monitor and evaluate innovative training and development solutions for their sphere of interest. Successful applicants were notified in October, 2011.

The programme invited applications within the two following categories:

A. OPEN CALLS - CONSISTING OF NEW APPLICATIONS FOR THE TRAINING LINKS GRANT PROGRAMME 2011 - 2013. THE GRANTS ON OFFER FOR OPEN CALLS WERE LARGE.

NUMBER THAT WAS SELECTED: 13.

B. CLOSED CALLS - CONSISTING OF TRAINING NETWORKS THAT HAD ALREADY TAKEN PART IN PREVIOUS TRAINING LINKSG GRANT PROGRAMMES.

NUMBER THAT WAS SELECTED: 10.

Learn more about the Training Links Grants Programme here[1]. You can also see a list of the Training Networks that received funding in the 2008-2010 programme here[2].

Below you can read the full list of the successful Training Network applicants within both types of calls (open and closed).

A. Funded Open Call Training Networks

The focus for this network is on accessing, designing and delivering training to first line, middle and senior managers from the participating community and voluntary organisations, all network members based in the Midlands and West of Ireland.

This application builds on the achievement of the Ability West Training Links Network which received funding under the 2008 round. On this occasion the network has new member organisations and all network organisations will be able to avail of critical training and up-skilling which would not be possible outside of the network. The option of eLearning, to complement and blend with the classroom training will be explored with training providers and has the potential to create an opportunity to provide additional access to the training materials and modules.

The training being explored by this network differs from more mainstream training in that it is specifically designed to focus on the themes of anger, anxiety, fear, loss and other difficult emotions. It will focus on how to work with them constructively rather than allow them be a debilitating factor in building relationships with families involved in anti-social behaviour, crime, and subsequent imprisonment.

It will operate within the community development sector in general and in the environment where families have experienced acute loss due to imprisonment and related factors.

The purpose of this Training Network is to enable housing associations to make informed decisions about sustainability measures in existing and future housing developments, allowing members to better manage resources (water, waste, energy) and to implement energy efficiency and renewable technologies. This is facilitated by the provided training and the knowledge sharing and confidence-building of the network itself.

Ireland is a country where huge health problems (heart disease, stroke and diabetes etc.) are caused by 50% of the population being overwieght or obese, while children are afraid to cycle to school. This appalling burden on public health and on less-affluent households can be traced to successive decades of car-dependent transport and land-use policies. Cycling advocates offer workable alternatives.

To help address these symptoms of a wider problem, 15 members of the Network will be trained in 'Bikeability' standard, so that we can train members of the public, adults or children, in safe cycling. Bikeability is a syllabus of cycling training recognised by the UK government (no such standard has been ratified in Ireland). Another NCPF measure is raising public awareness that cycling is not as difficult or unsafe as habitual car-users often suppose.

Members of the Network are regularly asked to appear on mass media to discuss transport issues, but none of us have formal training in this specialist area. Thus, 5 members of the Network will receive training in Press Relations, helping Members promote socially-just and environmentally friendly transport to the public.

The groups contained within this network are seeking to increase their capacity in terms of communication, management and fundraising. One third of stroke survivors are left with some form of communication difficulty after their stroke, this can manifest as a speech problem or an inability to understand written or oral language. We want to train support group organisers and members on how to make the groups more accessible to someone with a communication impairment. The network will also provide training in fundraising and management in year two to give these groups the ability.

The stroke specific training will allow the support groups to developed and will educate volunteers in the groups. Volunteers in turn will have more investment in the group thus ensuring their longevity as a volunteer.

This network proposes to increase the skills and confidence of our members in using plain English. This would benefit the partner organisations, their staff and volunteers and target audiences, in their in-house communications and in the communications with their key stakeholders. Many of their audiences are vulnerable groups and some have literacy difficulties.

One of NALA's main concerns is to influence and support organisations to be more accessible to people with literacy difficulties. By using approaches such as plain English, organisations can reach more people - in particular those with literacy difficulties - and enable them to fulfil their potential, access entitlements and better use services. Without such approaches organisations may be losing current and potential customers due to complicated communications and procedures.

These lead to misunderstandings, mistakes and complaints but also create an unnecessary disadvantage for people with literacy difficulties and indeed for the staff in organisations who work to support them.

This Network covers Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, and Tipperary with 15 projects in all. It meets regularly in a central position. All organisations provide Family Support within their communities through various projects including, childcare provision, eldercare provision, women’s groups, men’s group, youth club, training and education programmes, Horticulture, health and mental health issues, conflict resolution, counseling services and many other resources and services.

The Networks proposal is to offer 2 positions to each of the 13 projects that have indicated that they wish to access 3rd level accredited training/education for their volunteers and staff. It is proposed to run a Level 7 Certificate in Community Development Leadership that will be delivered by NUI Maynooth on their outreach Campus in Kilkenny. The Certificate will cover 4 broad topics, (Introduction to Community Development Studies, Working with Groups, Social Analysis for Community Studies and Project planning for community development).

Through a comprehensive Training Needs Analysis, specific topics and areas of work will be reflected under these broad heading and will form the module contents, which will be specific and relevant to those undertaking the training.

All the organisations in the Network find it difficult to source training that is cost and time effective. While all have training plans and engage in training for Boards staff and volunteers, it is widely felt that this method is less than successful. The organisations also feel isolated and unconnected. They would welcome an environment of shared learning that is local and tailor made to remote under-supported areas such as theirs.

The plan for this network is to design innovative and custom made training to suit its own particular requirements. While pieces of training are available to the organisations in the network, these are in a piecemeal fashion and usually based in Letterkenny - they do not provide the long term results required or that the Training Links Project will give. Thus, all of the organisations in this network are certain that the Training Links programme is the solution they have been waiting for!

The SAFE Ireland training links programme will build on the existing established SAFE Ireland network to provide further learning, professional and organisation development opportunities for our members and our networks growth and sustainability.

Based on an extensive training needs analysis, professional and organisational needs and the prior learning of SAFE Ireland we will deliver an extensive range of training programmes that will include professional skills; such as communication, evaluation, ICT, social marketing, practice related skills and advanced leadership skills that will support workers to be leading lights in their communities in the overall strategy to work towards a safer Ireland for women and their children.

The network members were brought together as a result of the common ethos on which they operate - with a primary focus on the provision of family support - and as such have similar skills and training needs. All the organisations involved are Sligo based and belong in the community and voluntary sector.

The primary training need identified by the network is the Train the Trainer Programme. It is felt that this programme will give staff the opportunity to develop high quality facilitation skills and allow them to develop and deliver a tailored training programme to meet the needs of their organisations into the future. This therefore would reduce the facilitation/trainer costs of the organisations involved in the network as it is anticipated that trained members will be able to deliver training. In addition, the network members have requested training in mediation skills which is considered very beneficial in many sectors of employment.

Other training needs identified include employment law, equality and diversity, group work, supervision and management skills, brief intervention and motivational interviewing - which are pertinent to all organisations.

Without the establishment of this network the sports partnerships would all engage in small level in-house training, which would not lead to quality provision or any form of accreditation. By engaging in the network and if we are successful in this application the benefits that the network would achieve are:

(a) Being in a position to take advantage of economies of scale which will allow the network to facilitate quality provision, and possible certified courses, which will build skills, improve adaptability and long term employability of staff currently working and volunteering in the sector.

(b) It will also allow us to foster cohesion between sports partnerships both regionally and nationally, where we will be in a position to share best practice and increase awareness of programmes running in other areas of the country. This will hopefully lead to sharing resources and knowledge in the future. This will help to cut costs when developing resources and further training.

(c) It will allow us to engage in customised training, with a reputable training provider, where we can offer accredited training, using examples specific to our jobs, which will make up skilling more attractive to our members.

The Training Network will address needs in the thematic context in which the network operates. All network members work with people with mental health difficulties and/or those who have been affected by suicide. The challenge for those working in such organisations is to provide appropriate services which are not always available through the mainstream in a context where funding is limited but the need is great and growing.

One of their greatest challenges is to increase mental health awareness and reduce the stigma attached to mental health difficulties in the wider community so that people who are suffering can come forward and seek help without fear of prejudice and that people with mental health difficulties have choice in terms of the services they are provided with. The challenge is to create a change in people's mind-set and in service provision so that suicide is always the option of last resort not of first resort and that those who are contemplating suicide are provided with adequate services to meet their specific needs as and when these needs arise.

There is a lack of awareness within the community that people with mental health difficulties can and do recover if they are provided with the most appropriate supports and services to meet their needs as and when they need them.

This network propose to provide a FETAC Level 5 Training Programme (Community Inclusion) to over 200 staff across 10 organisations. The proposal addresses in particular the sectoral needs of service providers for people with intellectual disabilities who have identified a skills deficit that must be addressed if service users are to get the opportunity to lead ordinary lives.

FETAC Level 5 studies are very accessible to adult learners and will encourage increased participation from staff who may have feared further education previously. Traditionally the big service providers within our sector have developed and evolved at a quicker pace than the small to medium sized organisations. All participating organisations in this application are small to medium in size and instead of playing “catch up” with the big boys; the network believe this collaborative approach will support it in making the change towards a more rights based approach to service provision in a timely fashion.

The CRAOL training network will operate nationwide. The original training network proposed to rollout FETAC Accredited Training in Community Radio broadcasting including the individual skills relevant to broadcast across its member stations.

CRAOL recognised the difficulties in delivering training directly hence it aims to establish a network of qualified ‘station trainers’ who can then deliver training to volunteers within the station.

The Training Links funding has enabled CRAOL to establish standard accredited training across an entire sector. Currently there are over 2000 volunteers involved in Community Radio. There was an expansion of direct employment in sector from 50 to 78 (35% rise) with a further 10% expected in 2011 and the number of licensed station is expected to double in the next 5 years. In the current economic climate, training community radio volunteers develops not just confidence but also key competencies in communications, IT and research.

As such Community Radio can make a real difference to economic recovery and the prevention of institutional unemployment. The Training Links programme has enabled the creation of standardized accredited training across this sector.

This Training Network will continue to provide training to community & voluntary organisations through the existing nine geographical area networks. Although the organisations will vary in terms of themes, operational sectors, aims and objectives the training needs will be similar and will address issues and challenges affecting all organisations within the community & voluntary sectors.

It is imperative in the current climate that organisations have and are seen to have proper financial structures in place and are managed by proper governed Boards. Given the increasing pressures on organisations in terms of governance, legislation and financial reporting we believe that not only is it important that organisations have training in areas such as governance, legal issues and finance but is also vital that organisations are provided with support and guidance on implementing proper policies and procedures for finance, good governance and legislation within their organisations.

In a time when grant support is being cut back in many sectors and as more and more organisations look to fundraising to sustain projects we believe that these organisations need to be skilled in areas such as marketing and using new tools such as social media and the web as part of their fundraising plans.

The Meath Training Links Network comprises twenty community and voluntary groups based and operating in County Meath and established as vehicles for empowerment and capacity-building in disadvantaged and rurally isolated areas in the County. The Meath Training Links Network has been instrumental in facilitating training activities which focuses on those employees who traditionally have had less access to education and training opportunities or who needed to up-skill to compete in a changing work environment.

The Network also focussed on improving the capacity of managers and senior staff in the community and voluntary sector, as well as empowering employees with lower basic skills. The training activities planned and delivered by the Meath Training Links Network enhanced the skills of managers and board members, developing in particular, their leadership, decision making, personnel management and operational skills. The value of the Training Links Programme in County Meath can be seen in all network member organisations who now all have improved human resource systems in place, and whose staff has availed of numerous up-skilling opportunities for the price of a minimal subscription fee.

The Network intends to facilitate a series of training programmes aimed at building capacity and resilience within the community and voluntary sector. This will be achieved through a range of skill development workshops aimed at elevating and reinforcing capacity in the areas of facilitation, consultation and guidance, competency in community leadership, assurity in tackling serious issues through positivity programmes and enhanced self sufficiency through a train the trainer style approach.

The members of this network have been subject to very significant structural changes which have had a huge impact on the members. The Training Links Programme was enormously helpful in supporting the members to work together and to address the new requirements. Seven of the groups have opted to remain independent groups and to strengthen ties with the HSE South. The remaining members are in the process of being cohesed with local development partnerships, whilst continuing to be operational at local level.

This closed call comes at a very opportune time as will provide an opportunity for members to collectively address this new structural reality. It will also support positive interaction between the members and improved ability to respond to local needs.

Both the community and voluntary sector as a whole and the new community television are severely challenged in the current economic climate. However since community television has experienced a dearth of funding since the channel's organisations were formed, this is nothing new. The Training Links funding in 2006 to the Community Television Training Network (CTVTrN) was the first seed funding to support the training needs of the new channels.

Since then three community television channels have been licensed and are broadcasting in the Republic: Cork Community Television (CCTv); Dublin Community Television (DCTV); and Province 5 TV (P5TV) in Navan, with a sister channel in Belfast. Northern Visions (NvTv).

The Network formed -and was subsumed into - the Community Television Association (CTA), a representative body that promotes and supports the channels. At the end of the TL funding programme the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (now the BAI) accepted the CTA as a network eligible for their Sectoral Development Scheme which makes provision for training needs in the media sector. Although a lower level of funding than the TL targeted at sectoral development needs (TL provided €50,000 and BAI provides €30,000), this has provided a means to maintain a development programme for the sector, but as the sector grows – we now have four channels where we had two originally – the funds available are proving insufficient.

Since the establishment of the Network in 2006, the context for community education has changed dramatically, from the amalgamation process of the CDPs, changing economic contexts, reduced funding, increased demands on services, changes to the FETAC process all in addition to the existing challenges for community education.

One of the key aims of the network initially was to build the capacity of groups to advocate and lobby for community education through gaining a greater understanding of the political process and media engagement. However, through the increased focus for evidence based development, some of which was influenced by the work of the Centre for Effective Services, community education organisations have become acutely aware of the need to demonstrate the outcomes of their work in the broadest sense, in order to justify their work, for supporting advocacy, and demonstrating to funders the money well spent. In response to these specific tools for this work is required in order to build in this kind of data collection into the everyday work of the organisations.

The main objective of this Network continues to be the increasing of the organisational skills capacity of member RCCs. Previous Training Links funding has enabled RCC Managers to increase their organisational management and development capacities. This has enhanced their abilities to cope with the ever-changing environment and continue to offer and develop services that best meet all survivors’ needs.

Another portion of previous funding allowed an organisation development consultant to work individually with a number of centres in order to cater specifically for their different development needs. For some centres, this meant re-establishing a functional Board of Directors. For others it meant preparatory work for a new strategic plan.

Senior Help Line is a national service operated by 320 older volunteers from centres in Ballyfermot, Cavan, Cork, Dundalk, Drogheda, Finglas, Galway, Limerick, Mullingar, Naas, Sligo, Summerhill, Waterford and Wexford. In the years since Senior Help Line originally benefited from the Training Links programme, our core training has fundamentally changed. Listening is now the core skill imparted to volunteers. Training is interactive, using role play, discussion groups, as well as theoretical input, training which is motivated by best practice on how adults learn.

Our aim in listening is threefold - to Connect with the caller, to Understand the caller and to Empower the caller. Connecting with the caller is best achieved by being open and welcoming, matching our mood to the caller’s, i.e. not being overly bright if a caller is feeling sad or worried. Our volunteers are trained and encouraged to Understand the caller by creating the space for the caller to speak, to listen carefully, to pick up cues and so continue to help the caller get to the heart of what they want to say. Volunteers Empower the caller best by allowing the caller arrive at their own decisions regarding a possible course of action, and by examining options in a nonjudgmental, non-leading manner. Senior Help Line is confidential and non-directive, and all volunteers sign a pledge to that effect.

As well as the Volunteer Coordinator residential training, we have centre-based refresher training for each current volunteer. These training sessions are very important for our training team in helping us to continue to get to know our large corps of volunteers, and to ensure that newer volunteers are fitting in well and receiving the support they need.

Community music education organisations in Cork City provide services in two key areas:

Instrumental and vocal music education services outside of school hours.

Complementary music curriculum support services in the classroom.

The initial application noted a poor infrastructure for music education at primary and secondary level. That continues to be the case; music educators are being asked to provide services at community or voluntary rates. Groups are providing instruments and teachers to schools.

Community service providers survive on either year-by-year funding contracts or solely on the proceeds from performances or fundraising. They are being asked to provide a technical service, but are not being resourced properly to do so. The lack of funding increases the pressure to fundraise. The energy required to run lottos, draws and other schemes has an impact on the capacity to deliver music education. The community service providers are caught in a trap. They are aware that funding is an issue for schools and they feel compelled by mission to provide a service, even though they will have to raise the funds to do so. Parents are happy to see their children practice and perform but don’t always show to fundraising performances.

Over the past year Network members have been heavily involved in the Cork City Music Education Partnership, a partnership of the local authority, relevent agencies and music service providers that has been formed through the national Music Generation through Music Education Partnerships scheme. Supported by U2 and the Department of education the project aims to deliver new opportunities for vocal and instrumental tuition for young people and to raise the profile of Music Education in Ireland.